


reach for my hand

by Arvanion



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route Spoilers, Gen, No Dialogue, Past Torture, Suicide By King
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:08:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22503028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arvanion/pseuds/Arvanion
Summary: The Emperor falls, never to rise again.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Edelgard von Hresvelg
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	reach for my hand

Edelgard collapses before the throne, tasting blood with every labored breath.

The husk rots around her, dissipating into ash that drifts away and vanishes into the air.

Dimitri's approaching footsteps seem like thunder in the cavernous silence, and Edelgard knows from that silence that her soldiers are dead.

In the five years of war, they had never retreated, their loyalty and belief in their Emperor giving them iron resolve even in the face of insurmountable odds.

Now none remained.

Garreg Mach, Myrddin, Gronder, Merceus, Enbarr--the places where they had stood their ground became their graves.

She does not offer a prayer for their souls.

Any god who cared for humanity is long dead.

The footsteps stop.

Edelgard looks up, into the face of her killer.

He's... smiling.

Smiling, and reaching out his hand.

For just a moment, she entertains the notion of taking it.

But she sees beyond it.

Sees his face in the holy tomb, twisted with rage and with laughter, spattered with blood.

Sees the mutilated bodies of her soldiers, the haunted eyes of the survivors, speaking of a vengeful ghost.

Sees the jeering crowds, content to believe the Church's words and lay all the evils of the world at her feet.

Dimitri will not kill her.

He will show her mercy, as he is showing her mercy now: kindly, with a smile.

And she will spend what remains of her life imprisoned.

She hears, as if from far off, the voices of her siblings.

In darkness, in chains, they died one by one.

She failed to save them then.

She has failed to avenge them now.

But at least _she_ will die free.

Edelgard smiles back at Dimitri and reaches for her dagger.

**Author's Note:**

> ~~i blame my friends for not stopping me~~


End file.
